Plain language and voter referendums
Explainer: Why 60 percent of NC Voters Didn’t Understand Amendment One
May 9, 2012
Stephen Reader
Altogether, that’s 60 percent of voters in the state who don’t understand Amendment One.
“That’s not a huge surprise,” says Annetta Cheek, Chair of the Center for Plain Language, a non-profit that works to make government communicate more clearly with citizens. “I’m actually surprised 40 percent might have understood it.”
Cheek said the vast majority of legislation goes misunderstood by the voting public. “Frankly, every time I have to vote on something locally, it’s very hard to understand what I’m voting on.”
